Occur! Avon for women

I found a list online that says Avon replaced Occur! with "Candid." No way! Not the same scent at all. My friends and I wore Occur! in high school. It was very sophisticated and mysterious. Avon made the cream in the pots in the Occur! fragrance and it was amazing. I so wish they would bring this back. Occur was probably my first venture into chypre scents and I love them to this day....

I'll always associate this fragrance with the Avon lady who used to visit our house when I was was very little. She was so sweet to me and I was always so excited to flick through that catalog. Back then, Avon was really cheap and it was a huge thrill for me to use some of my pocket money to buy a cute decorative bottle of either this, Moonwind or Genesis. Of course, it was more the bottle that I was after and I would proudly display these on my dresser long after the fragrance was gone.

I think I'm lucky to have these memories as my first fragrance experiences. I feel a bit sorry for young girls today who all seem to be drowned in heavily marketed celebrity fragrances. I see nothing appealing about looking back when you are middle-aged and remembering your first perfume was something a disinterested Britney Spears was flogging at the time.

Occur is the first perfume I ever own, -and I was 12:).

Impossible for me to forget how it would smell... Creamy, really musky, deep, a little green, overpowering, and heady. (Indeed I applied it like crazy.)

It's longevity was fantastic, sillage pretty good.

I agree that this one was one of Avon's best fragrances.

I can't help myself but wonder if I would experience Occur any differently if I had the chance to try and wear it today as a woman. It's long lost...

Not a review - just a short note to thank Krmarich for his brilliant review on "Occur!" It is indeed the best Avon ever - and come to think of it - I'll just try my luck on Ebay NOW and hunt it down. Thank you so much for reminding us of this gem!

This was Avons biggest, bravest and most complex fragrance to date. I say that because I am a chypre fan and have to admire this one on many levels.

First up, the price. It was very inexpensive around $2.99 for a bottle. Now it averages 10-20 bucks on E-bay. Its best to try the big black faux diamond bottle for its full strength.

It is a powerful chypre that can overwhelm the unintiated. Oakmoss, patcholi and vetiver dominates this almost sweet powerhouse from the 1960s. Carnation and jasmine peak out from the dusty chypre. The leather and coconut seduce. The longevity is 8 hours or more with oakmoss lingering the next morning..

The civet is somewhat raunchy, making it sexy and seductive. Avon backed down after this one. To produce something this big, it would be price be astronimical! However if you are brave enough, give it a try. Its unisex and nocturnal.

This one is tricky! I have a vintage 1,7 fl.oz cologne in a "equipage"-like shaped bottle i bought mostly because of the interesting bottle. Well, first time i have opened the bottle and sniffed "occur" i was scared off and dissapointed, that much strong chypre scent welcomed me out of the bottle. Then i sniffed it again and this time i got some interesting notes out of it. Still it was very harsh and strong chypre with a lot of oakmoss, vetyver and carnation. Smelled really like a men´s cologne a lot. Since i love carnation in perfums then i decided to apply it and i couldn´t believe my nose about that transformation than happened. Instantly upon application all the strong notes dissapeared and soft and sensuous honey and vanilla note along with rose and musk notes were dominant! I just kept asking where all the sharpness that scared me off the first time is gone? Yet, you can still detect some chypre notes amongst the sweet notes, they are not dominant and make a nice ensemble with all the other notes. So don´t judge it until you have apllied it! It stays close to your skin unless you go out in a windy outside and staying power is average, but since it is a cologne i have i don´t have big expectations. A Very nice addition to my collection. :)

One of the Avon classics which I hope they never discontinue - like they did "Moonwind" and the lovely "Hana Gasa."

I wore this from the time I was a teenager until it was discontinued. My husband was stationed overseas at the time and all sources had dried up by the time we returned stateside.

It is still the most exotic fragrance I have worn. I had two younger sisters and they were always getting in my things but they left this alone -- I was the only one who could wear it in our family..I suppose my body chemistry was compatible.

Last year I tried getting some vintage specimens off ebay without success. The ones at the time were way past their prime and smelled more like your average run of the mill stale cheap cologne.

I would so love it if Avon would resurrect this fragrance!

not a favorite of mine. super strong, sweet and spicy at the same time. i'm not a big fan of gardenia so that may be some of the reason i don't care for this all that much. it does last on the skin and clothes. not my taste.

When I was a teenage boy-early to mid 80s, our neighbor across the street was an Avon rep and divorced mother of two, and she used to give me samples (foil wrapped single use wipes) of colognes and sometimes perfumes (supposedly for Mom, but I would keep some and excitedly sniff them...dreaming of the day when I could buy my own and wear them ). This scent reminds me of those days. I found this overwhelming and old lady like at the time. Now: WOW!!...

(Old ladies know what's up!) :-)

The bitter bright and expansive opening (complete with aldehydes aplenty) may turn some people off and make them say Eww!, but to me they say "BOY, come here!". The corriander and cardamom are dry and sharp, and the gardenia is creamy and full. As it calms, the heart blends strong flowers and exotic aromatic woods in a way that is at once sweet, warm and earthy. The myrrh and styrax give it a true vintage aura and the patchouli and vetiver give it strength and presence. There really is a lot "Occuring" here! A very animalic musky base, rounded by the gourmand components sweetness (honey, vanilla and coconuts), gives it something that many perfumes, today, don't really have any more: oomph! The smoky leather note and the warm amber make it feel even more exotic and a tad oriental, though it is most definitelty a chypre! After it dries completely it is nowhere near as loud or raucous as it's opening was. In fact, this is something the right guy could pull off with no problem: smoky, earthy and musky, as long as the power flowers were not a problem. This went from an "Eewww" to a "Hmmm?" to a "Yes, oh YES!" for me. My one friend calls this Avon's "No.5"!! Think you did not like it back then? Give this exquisite lady another sniff today (if you can find her, that is!) and maybe you'll find something grand and gorgeous, like I did...

Sillage: massive
Longevity: great
Overall: 3.75/5

Smelling Occur! again today is making me miss my favorite Avon vintage: Moonwind, even more. :-( If there is anyone in the member community who could provide a sample or small decant of Moonwind, you would have my undying appreciation and utmost respect as a collector!

Other Avon scents this made me remember:

Topaze
Cotillion
Zany!
Pearls and Lace
Pink Suede
Rare Sapphires
Rare Emeralds
Bird of Paradise

and the mens:

Cordovan
Weekend
Iron
Interact
ProSport
Windswept

*Aah, the power of scent on memories...*

Avon fragrances have a certain signature aroma that is easily identifiable. Usually, I find this a detracting quality...but here, in Occur, it is charming, rather more a signature, like Caron's soapy floral base, than an indicator of cheapness.

This scent is unusual in that it is not flowery at all, despite the category of Floral Chypre. The gardenia in the top and the jasmine, rose, and LOV in the heart are voluptous, but veiled. Occur! leaves me with the impression of a spiced, dry, mossy oriental smoky, sweet incense, thanks to the Benzoin in the Styrax. The base is sultry warm, with a boozy vanilla note. Occur! is moody and mysterious, and lasts the whole evening through.

I want to thank makeupalley's "mariekel" for providing me with an exemplary vintage sample of this iconic scent.

I always thought of this one as a flowery oriental. When first introduced, it was quite different from the ladylike florals in Avon's garden. It was much heavier than the typical Avon, a bit dark and mysterious. The topnotes were heavy, smoky, and rather unpleasant. The middle was pure Avon: a bouquet of mixed flowers. What gave distinction was the honey mixed with vanilla in the base. It gave Occur! a luscious and luxurious feel that every woman could afford.

I Think this is a bit Synthetic but netherless a Perfume of self Interest.
what make interesting and yet with a sting in the tail is the Unusual Mixure
of Leather and Honey and with the stylax
Civet myrrah whould'nt appeal to anyone
unless Brave it has some Vintage Eroticism to it like Italy or France
in the early 1960's a boy of 13 discovering an attractive Neibour next door Who looks like Sophia Loren Or Brigette Bardot. or going to your mother's Burgandy with faint orche stems and green leaves and a Ebony Trimed Round Vanity Mirror all Ebony
And you open the drawers and you see
Eyelash Curlers Red Lipstick Dark Nail Polish Perfumes Bras and Panties and when he saw them it became awaking for him this what i get a vibe Erotisim. without Expilciism.

I've avoided the cheap Avon perfumes, but I just bought a vintage bottle of Occur and am very happy with it. I remember my mom wearing this. It's a complex fragrance, honeyed woods with spicy carnations.

A classic chypre. Moss and leather prevail. The floral elements are very sweet and right on the edge of 'off', but the scent continues to a final dry down of honey and amber. Very nice in the vintage chypre range. I would recommend this to those who like heavy orientals but wish to branch into another genre of scent.

A good cheapie from Avon, whose fragrances often have some unpleasant notes to unbalance them after the first few minutes. I remember this from my childhood, and it hasn't changed. Still smells wonderfully woody and chypre-like, for those women who are tempted to nick their boyfriends aftershave ratherthan smell flowery and sweet, and it lasts for hours